This blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

The California stem cell agency today announced the resignation of
Alan Trounson, who has served for nearly six years as president of
the $3 billion research enterprise.

Trounson, an internationally known pioneer in IVF research, said
he was resigning so that he could rejoin his family in
Australia, where he has spent most of his personal and professional
life.

Trounson's wife and youngest son moved back to Australia from
California about three years ago. In a news release from the stem
cell agency, Trounson said,

“(T)he agency needs a full-time president, and I need to spend
more time with my family. The two needs are incompatible, so it is
necessary for me to step down as president."

In an email to the California Stem Cell Report, Trounson said,

“I have a 12-year old son who misses me terribly for the last
2.5 years we have been separated (as do the other 3 older children).
I have sacrificed considerable personal family rewards to continue to
commit to driving CIRM's vision.”

Trounson joined the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM), as the agency is formally known, in late 2007. He was
personally recruited by Robert Klein, the first chairman of the stem
cell agency, during a trip to Australia. Trounson also said today
that then Gov. Schwarzenegger asked him to serve.

During Trounson's tenure, the agency's portfolio has soared from
$283 million and 156 awards to its current $1.9 billion and 570
awards. It has about $600 million remaining in uncommitted funds.

Trounson's departure comes at a critical moment for the agency,
which is trying to find a way to continue with major operations
beyond 2017, when the money for new grants will run out. It is also
pressing hard to commercialize stem cell research, the primary goal
of Prop. 71, the ballot initiative that created the agency in 2017.

CIRM said Trounson has agreed to stay on as the agency begins its
search for a new president. The agency said it is discussing the
possibility of some sort continued affiliation for Trounson with the
stem cell effort.

Members of the agency's governing board had high praise for
Trounson today. Jonathan Thomas, chairman of the board, said in the
CIRM news release that Trounson helped established the agency as a
“world leader.”

“He has led us through some challenging times, been the driving
force behind some truly innovative ideas – such as the Bridges and
Creativity Training Programs, the Alpha Clinic model for delivering
new therapies to patients, a stem cell genomics program and an iPS
cell bank for interrogating the cause and developing new treatments
for really serious and complex diseases.”

Sherry Lansing, chair of the directors' Governance Subcommittee and a former Hollywood studio head and former chair of the University of California regents, described Trounson as an “irresistible force.”
She said,

“We are much, much closer to cures, thanks to his efforts."

Trounson's years at CIRM were not without controversy. In 2009,
Marie Csete left the agency as its chief scientific officer. She told
the journal Nature her advice was “not respected” at the agency.

The stem cell agency has had difficulties recruiting candidates
for president in the past -- for among other reasons -- the early
legal challenges and because of its dual executive arrangement legally dictated by Prop. 71. The dual CEO situation means that the
chairman and president have overlapping responsibilities. CIRM is
also an unusual mix, at least for a state agency, of science,
academia, business and politics. Previous presidential searches also
have become enmeshed in an internal debate over whether the president
should be a big name scientist or more of an administrator.

In response to a query, Kevin McCormack, a spokesman for the agency said no severance is being provided to Trounson. The spokesman said Trounson's current salary is $490,008, the same as when he joined the agency.

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.